Deloitte Disability Inclusion @ Work Survey 2024: Workplace accessibility is still a significant challenge for many

Rotterdam, 4 December 2024

Dutch people with a disability, neurodivergence, or chronic health condition still regularly experience problems with workplace accessibility. This is evident from the first edition of Deloitte's Disability Inclusion @ Work 2024: A Global Outlook. The report provides insights into the experiences of 10,000 respondents in 20 countries, who experience different levels of difficulty doing certain activities, such as seeing, hearing, walking, concentrating, or communicating. The survey included 500 Dutch respondents.

Remarkably, only 36% of Dutch respondents identify as being a person with a disability or chronic health condition, or as someone who is neurodivergent. In contrast, 64% of respondents have some difficulty performing a certain activity, without identifying as such.

The majority of Dutch respondents who are open about their disability, neurodivergence, or chronic health condition at work turn to HR (66%) or a direct supervisor (63%). Common reasons cited among those who choose to keep their condition private include the lack of a formal diagnosis (29%), not knowing who to report to (27%) and concerns that their careers could be negatively affected (25%).

One in three requests a workplace accommodation, majority rejected

One in three Dutch respondents who have chose to disclose their condition at work (31%) have asked their current employer for workplace accommodations. The majority of employees have refrained from doing so - of them, 36% believe they don't need any; 26% cite fears that their supervisors would perceive the request negatively, and 24% are afraid of being seen as a difficult employee.

Of the respondents who asked for adjustments, 61% have had at least one request rejected. While this is lower than the global average of nearly three-quarters, it remains a significant percentage. When requests were denied, respondents say they were told that other employees with similar needs were also not receiving accommodation (38%). Other reasons for rejection were that the request was seen as too costly (32%), too difficult to implement (29%), or that it was unreasonable (27%).

The most frequently requested workplace accommodations among Dutch respondents include working from home when necessary (53%), taking regular breaks (53%), access to private working spaces (42%), adapted facilities (41%) and adjustments to work schedules (39%).

Social inclusion in the workplace under pressure

One in four Dutch respondents (26%) has been unable to attend at least one work-related event outside their workplace due to a lack of accessibility at the chose venue. In addition, 25% experienced a lack of accessibility at a work event in their workplace, such as networking events. This leads to 24% of the respondents saying they have been unable to socialize with colleagues.

The most common barriers experienced are a lack of appropriate transport to the location, physical barriers such as doorsteps, a lack of breaks in the agenda, inaccessible restrooms and a lack of low-stimuli spaces.

Lack of trust is a barrier to reporting non-inclusive behaviour

More than a third of Dutch respondents (36%) have experienced non-inclusive behaviour in the workplace in the past 12 months. This percentage is slightly lower than the global average (43%). This often involves microaggressions (21%), with the majority of these (61%) having it formally reported to someone in authority in their organisation.

Respondents who did not report non-inclusive behaviour in the workplace often did so because they think their complaint would not be taken seriously (32%) or remain confidential. It is striking that 27% of Dutch respondents cite a lack of trust as the main reason for not reporting, compared to 18% on average worldwide. Furthermore, respondents were concerned that reporting the behaviour would worsen the behaviour (32%) or could negatively affect their careers (19%).